THIRTEEN
Make It Out AliveJune 10, 2006
The next three days passed without a word spoken between Andy and Patrick. The tension in the apartment was unbearable when Lindsey was there. When she wasn't, conversation didn't really improve that much.

Tuesday morning meant Lindsey opened at "Sip" she was gone even before seven a.m. Both too restless to sleep, Andy and Patrick sat on opposite ends of the living room. Andy had a comic book in his hands. He flipped through the pages carelessly; he had already read it with Lindsey the night before. Patrick was experimenting with sounds on his laptop. Apart from the occasional computer chirp or page turning, silence lasted until Patrick finally swallowed his anger and spoke.

"Pete got that house in L.A."

"When does he fly back?"

Patrick sighed skimming the lyrics he had just been e-mailed, looking for the answer in an explanation Pete hadn't included. "I'm not sure he's going to," Patrick admitted, "He'll probably need some time to settle in. We'll probably just meet him in Burbank when it's time to start recording."

"He should be home."

"Not that I don't love having you here dude, but shouldn't you be home too? You've hardly spent anytime in Milwaukee since the tour ended." Patrick's serious tone made his comment seem more like a business transaction then a conversation with one of his best friends.

"I was going to go home," Andy lied putting his comic book down beside him around the same time Patrick pushed his laptop to the side. They still spoke from across the room from each other, "But then Lindsey, I can't just leave her here."

"Take her with you!" Patrick said hopefully. He really didn't have a problem with her; she never really bothered him or got in his way. He just didn't like how much Andy had changed since he met her. He was always taking care of her, chasing after her when she was mid breakdown, and sidestepping the real problem just to make sure she was just pretending to be happy.

"I can't do that either," Andy insisted speaking over a knock on the door. Truth was Milwaukee still held memories of his past that he was too heartbroken to face again, predominantly in the form of a pretty brunette named Mia. They had been in love, or so he thought.

Too impatient to wait for an answer to his arrival, Pete threw open the unlocked door with a grin on his face.

"So much for settling in," Patrick chuckled more to himself than to either of is friends.

"I have a surprise!" Pete announced before turning back into the hallway and whispering something that sounded an awful lot like "Come in! Come in! Hurry!"

"His name is Hemingway!" He announced as Joe entered the apartment with a squirming bull dog in his arms.

"You got a puppy?" Andy questioned unsure his very unpredictable friend could responsibly care for something other then himself.

Pete smirked obviously prepared for that sort of reaction from his friend, "I figured he'd be easier and not as clingy as a crazy girlfriend."

Andy scoffed picking up his comic book again.

"Actually," Pete spoke slowly, "Now that we're all here we should probably talk about this said 'crazy clingy girlfriend.'"

"I don't want to hear it Pete," Andy replied as Hemingway ran in circles around the couch he sat on, "I understand that you don't like her."

"Andy, seriously, I'm saying this as one of your closest and most trusted friends," The sincerity in Pete's voice was sickening, "You need to get rid of her man!"

"She's not going anywhere," Andy told him calmly. Patrick and Joe sighed although they both were sitting on the far side of the room pretending they weren't paying attention. This was the kind of situation Pete should handle.

"It's been almost a month," Pete hoped logic might help him win his case against Lindsey, "You said it was only going to be a few days. At this rate, she's never going to leave."

"She needs to be here," Andy argued.

Pete continued as though Andy hadn't said anything at all, "Just send her back to wherever she came from and be done with it man. We're jumping head first into this new record, we need you 100%."

"I can handle both." Andy assured him.

"You can't. She's going to mess you up, believe me. I've fallen for a dozen girls like her. Once she gets under you're skin: you're a dead man."

"Look Pete, I really don't want to get into this right now," Andy told him, "You're wrong about her, I can't really explain why."

"Why not?" Pete asked like a child would ask why he couldn't stay up past his bedtime or why he couldn't eat his cookies before dinner.

"Because I finally got her to trust me." And trust was something he knew she didn't give out easily, "I really can't risk ruining that."

Pete didn't reply. He searched his friends' face for a hint of something he could use in his argument. There was nothing.

"Pete, you have to trust me too," Andy said before turning to Patrick and Joe, "You all have to trust me. Lindsey needs to be here. I need her to be here."

"Dude, I get she's the first girl you've been with since..."

"Don't even say her name." Andy threatened gnashing his teeth at him.

"Sore spot. Fine. Just believe me when I say this is only going to end worse then whatever you're still heartbroken about," Pete stood up with frustration, patting the head of his yipping puppy just to silence him for the moment, "You can't honestly believe it was the best idea to have a girl you met in a coffee shop move in with you after only knowing her 20 minutes? You're just as crazy as she is."

The door creaked open quietly, allowing Lindsey to enter practically unnoticed. She knelt down as the small bulldog puppy trotted over to sniff at her shoes.

"Aren't you adorable?" She whispered rubbing behind his ears.

"Get off it already Pete," Andy shouted, "She was homeless okay. Does it make you feel better about yourself to hear that she had been sleeping in her car?"

"Andy." Lindsey choked quickly scanning the apartment. Joe and Patrick gazed at her with wide eyes from behind Patrick's laptop. Pete hung his head both embarrassed for himself and for her. Andy quickly stood taking Hemingway from her grasp and handing him back to Pete. He placed a hand on her back and led her back out of the apartment.

She didn't seem upset, but he felt he still had to sort out an explanation for the conversation she overheard. Even if she did mutter, "It's fine. Really It's fine," Over and over until they stepped outside. It seems their relationship, however it could be described, was based solely on overdue explanations.